UK house prices rose by 1.8 per cent year-on-year during the month of April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In March they rose by 1.6%.

The consensus estimate was for a rise of 1.7%.

Core consumer prices, which exclude energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, moved higher at a 0.5% month-on-month (2% year-on-year) pace, in comparison to an increase of 1.6% in the previous month.

Increases in transport costs, notably air fares, sea fares and motor fuels, provided the largest contribution (+0.40 percentage points) to the rise in the 12-month rate of change in CPI between April and March. An overall fall in the price of food was the largest offsetting factor (-0.13 percentage points).

The timing of Easter is likely to have had an impact on the index - most notably for air fares and sea fares - ONS explained.

RPI undershoots

The retail price index (RPI) advanced at a 2.5% year-on-year pace, in line with the previous month's gain and one tenth of a percentage point below analysts' expectations.

In harmonised terms CPI grew by 1.6% in the year to April 2014, up from 1.5% in March.

Versus the previous month CPI was 0.4% higher, led by gains in the prices of transport (2%), clothing&footwear (1%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.9%).

No, inflation is not headed higher, Capital Economics says

In a note to clients Samuel Tombs at Capital Economics wrote that: "[...] the increase in CPI inflation from 1.6% to 1.8% in April (and core inflation from 1.6% to 2%) almost entirely reflects the impact of the later timing of Easter [...] Moreover, the trend in CPI inflation should still be down over the course of the rest of 2014 thanks to the recent stability of commodity prices, sharp falls in import prices and the intensification of competition between supermarkets and retailers."

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